I stumbled across a German-based small-equipment leasing company focussed on SME customers, Grenke AG, that has been shooting the lights out for a few decades. Commencing business in 1978 with the founder and two employees, Grenke now generates a net profit in excess of EUR 100m, and now operates in many countries, including opening an Australian operation recently.
As one should expect for a B2B leasing company, Grenke's debt/equity ratio is high – circa 400%. Its PER is an astounding 30 approximately – far more than what I would be willing to pay. One source of metrics is
http://www.teletrader.com/Professional/stocks/figures/tts-90937902, but if I really wanted to know the facts, I would cross-check with other sources. On high debt/equity ratios, Silver Chef (SIV) has a debt/equity ratio of 224% according to the current Morningstar metrics. SIV's SP jumped about 5% today, but I have no informations as to why – it's not a stock that I follow.
The point I want to make in this post is that B2B leasing, if done correctly, can be very profitable, and that high debt/equity ratios are the norm.
